Orange County Register OpEd Piece Thinks Attorney’s Fees For Plaintiffs Is The Motivating Cause.
Although we are not endorsing OpEd views in this blog, we will report on ones which have their own take on issues which the writers believe implicate attorney’s fees issues.
The Sunday, July 28, 2024 edition of The Orange County Register has an OpEd piece authored by Kyla Christoffersen Powell, who reported that California “lemon law” cases in 2023 surged to a total of 22,655 cases filed statewide, a 52% increase from the previous year. She reports that the situation is acute in Los Angeles County, where lemon law cases spiked 1,400% in branch courts between 2021 and 2023—with two Los Angeles County Superior Court judges reporting that they had total dockets in excess of 760 cases. She also reports that, in 2023, just seven law firms filed 54% of all lemon law cases in the state, with the most prolific firms increasing their filings almost 75% between 2022 and 2023. Ms. Powell believes the dramatic increase is due to the pro-plaintiff fee shifting provisions of the Song-Beverly Act. She makes some suggestions for reforms, such as a pre-lawsuit notice, capping of fees, and wider use of an arbitration protocol potentially available in these types of disputes.
She ends by quoting Judge Timothy Taylor of the San Diego County Superior Court, who noted that certain attorneys are “emboldened to over-litigate cases the manufacturers regularly seek to settle, with no benefit to the injured consumer.”
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